Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Crafty SoSG readers will be able to deduce that either Delino or myself serve as webmaster for this fine site. Because while our GameThread imploded last evening (due to either Blogger wonkiness or us not paying our bills (or both)), Delino and I enjoyed the luxuries of Suite 216 at last night's Dodgers-Marlins game, thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Dodgers VP of Communications Josh Rawitch, and his entire PR/Communications team (Jon Chapper, Amy Summers, and Yvonne Carrasco, to name a few).

That's right, while SoSG burned, Delino and I fiddled. And ate. And drank a beer or four. And had a great time, with the exception of the game's final score.

It has become a genuine pleasure to attend Blogger Night each year, not only because of the lineup of guests that Rawitch bribes to stop by the suite, but because of the great group of bloggers whom we've gotten to meet and befriend over the years. The ever-charming Christine was there from Robots Took My Medicine; the always-peppy dynamic duo of Chris and Alex (from Scottsdale!) from Dodgerfan.net; the insightful and interesting Robert (and his wife Lisa) from Dodger Dugout; the newly-canonized Eric Stephen from True Blue LA; and the ubiquitous Roberto from VSIMH, and the very tall Ken from isportsweb, among other bloggers. Mark from LA Dodger Talk even flew out from Indianapolis to make the evening with his team member Jared, which was incredibly impressive. I know I'm forgetting some people, and I apologize...it was a long evening.

We started out near the media entrance, before getting re-routed to the will-call window (but still had the thrill of entering the top deck entrance as "media"!)

And by the time we had made it to the suite, batting practice was just wrapping up. Josh Rawitch's growing influence within the Dodgers organization is obvious, but it was made more clear by his ability to secure Suite 216 for this evening--the suite adjacent to Ned Colletti's GM suite, with a spectacular view from right behind home plate:

A big crowd was on hand for post-game fireworks.

And as usual, Rawitch hooked us up with an impressive lineup of guests. First came GM Ned Colletti:

Colletti enters the suite.

Colletti opines, Rawitch reclines.

SoSG Delino hangs on every one of Colletti's words like a 13-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Just look at his serious facial expression!

Also visiting the suite was Ron Cey, five weeks after his hip replacement surgery and looking lean and mean and thankfully ambulatory:

"I have a conundrum for you. An enigma. A puzzle."

VP and Assistant General Manager Kim Ng stopped by as well, her first visit to a Blogger Night event. She had a crowd of people around her so I couldn't get too close to the conversation, but I was struck by how disarmingly polite and cordial she was, coupled with how focused and thoughtful her comments were. She had a small circle of rabid bloggers laughing and nodding and eating out of her hand. I'm really, really glad she's on our team, and I hope she stays here.

Dodgers President Dennis Mannion also stopped by and regaled us with stories from his days with the Phillies organization; Sweet Lou Johnson stopped by to say hi; and I'm sure Delino will tell us more about the Miller High Life spokesman who dropped by to make sure we were drinking responsibly.

The only bad news was the game's outcome, since John Ely had a shaky start (Ely was likely flustered by Delino's yelling "I loved you in 'Fool's Gold!'" from the suite), and the Dodgers' clawing runs back came up one run short. But Rawitch and his team really put on quite a show for us off the field, and I can't tell you how much I for one appreciated his generosity.

Thanks, Josh, to you and your whole team, for a great evening at the Stadium!

(P.S. I will post more detail from the conversation with Ned Colletti later in the day. Stay tuned.)

Props to Dodgers brass for continuing to prioritize interaction with bloggers, who more and more are the first and most frequent way that fans get their news and interact with other fans. I'm really glad to have Rawitch and Ng and company on the team.

Also, thanks to SoSG Sax and DD for representing our little community! Was very cool to read your report-back.

"by creating a dialogue with its fans, the team is strengthening its relationship with its core consumers."

Exactly. As well, social media is the likely way that newer (younger) fans will "access" sports franchises in the future rather than through traditional/mainstream media. Building this foundation now is key, and I appreciate that the Dodgers recognize this.

@Dusty - Thanks for the comment. Absolutely younger fans access content through social media, but as you and I (and I suspect others on this blog) demonstrate, even us old folks consume our media simultaneously by watching games and sharing comments. I think the Dodgers are the leaders of this in MLB. The Islanders and Capitals do similar things in the NHL.

Absolutely re old(er) folks like we. I was trying (inelegantly, perhaps) to make a point that, as the next generation of fans of any sport come of age, they will likely access the sport through new media and social media, so to grow that next generation of fans, franchises would be smart to engage them in the way they like to be engaged.

With all these bloggers snapping pics, you had to figure a Son's secret identity might get compromised. This has indeed come to pass. I won't say who or where, though. (I only know because Sax and Delino are the two Sons I've met.)